2007 Grand Canyon Adventure :: Day 8

22. October 2007 by admin.

We woke this morning to learn that Doug had got up in the middle of the night to see two ring tail cats, a raccoon like animal with a cat like ringed tail, inside of the vestibule of his tent. They were not at all afraid of him and he had to shoo them away. Last night, Doug for the very first time left food in his backpack, which is hanging outside on a pole near the tents. This morning he noticed that his backpack was open and all his food was missing, and we later learned that ring tail cats have the uncanny ability to unzip tents and backpacks.

We hiked this morning from the bottom of the canyon to a point about a third of the way up onto the Tonto Platform using the Bright Angel Trail. It is a beautiful section of trail that is like a grand staircase reaching toward the Tonto Platform. Water seeps from the rock in many locations providing green vegetation to the red backdrop of the desert rock. After setting up camp at Indian Gardens we hiked along the Tonto Trail for several miles. It is a great place to look and see where we have been and where we are going.

This was our last night inside of the canyon and we have all been commenting on how fast the time has gone by. We hiked to a place called Plateau Point, where we could look down at the Colorado River and out along the canyon as the sun set. Plateau Point is a spectacular slab of rock that juts out over the edge of the Tonto Platform high above the Colorado River and far below the South Rim. We arrived an hour before the sun sets and we can see evidence that we are leaving the solitude of the inner canyon and re-joining the mix of humanity that visits the upper layers. There are about fifteen people on the slab at Plateau Point. It is a festive atmosphere with several people doing yoga, others are cooking their dinner on the rock or taking photo’s. One family with several small children were allowing their children to run near the edge, seemingly oblivious of the sheer thousand foot drop into the abyss of rock and water below.

We made one last campsite meal and went to bed. I left the fly down on the tent so that I could see the stars.

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